Firstly, it is important to note that early rising is considered to be anything before 6:00am. But 6:00am is still soooo early, so why isn’t early rising considered to be 7:00am or later? This relates to our natural rise in cortisol, our stress hormone, which slowly rises from midnight and peaks from 6:00am.
Hence, if you are unable to resettle your baby around this time, hopefully this comes as reassurance that it is biologically normal 🥰
However, if your baby consistently wakes before this time, consider the following:
1️⃣ Your response
It is normal for our babies to go through much more frequent and lighter sleep cycles after midnight, therefore they could simply be wriggling around and taking a little longer to transition into their next or last sleep cycle of the morning. Hence intervening too soon in some instances can inadvertently disturb them and continue to cause early rising.
2️⃣ Hunger
To determine if your baby is waking due to genuine hunger will largely depend on their age, daytime calories, and sleep associations. You could consider delaying your baby’s morning feed by 10-15 minutes and changing their nappy beforehand. Over time your goal would be to extend their feed by 30 minutes to discourage them from progressively wake earlier and earlier.
3️⃣ Too much day sleep
If your baby is having too much day sleep, they may not have enough sleep pressure to sleep further and may need their routine tweaked. This could be more common when your baby transitions from 3>2 naps between 6-9 months and 2>1 nap between 15-18 months.
4️⃣ Overtired
On the other hand, if your baby’s naps have fallen apart or they are going to bed overtired, increases the risk of bedtime resistance, fragmented night sleep, and early rising. This repetitive cycle can continue in a downward spiral, impacting their daytime naps and ultimately causing your baby to go to bed overtired once again.
If despite these tips you are continuing to have difficulty, please reach out and book a consultation via our website today to restore sleep for you and your family 🩷💫🫶🏻